1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to electronic commerce and, in particular, to purchasing projects prior to manufacture. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to customizing project manufacturing according to customer responses to a project offering prior to manufacture.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, with the development of computer network technology, an electronic commerce (e-commerce) system has developed in which consumers and vendors are connected via a network. Electronic commerce can occur between a consumer and a vendor through, for example, an online information service, the Internet, a bulletin board system (BBS) or electronic data interchange (EDI).
There are many different methods in which e-commerce may be implemented as there are a vast variety of commodities and services in need of being traded. Many e-commerce systems operate on a post and match process; that is, the systems work by having a prospective consumer bid on an item and if the bid matches the vendors's specified selling price, the item is sold to that consumer. In another example, many e-commerce systems involve on-line auctions where vendors place products or services up for bid and consumers electronically place bids for purchasing the products or services; the item is sold to the consumer with the highest bid. In yet another example of an e-commerce system, vendors may offer a form for consumers to fill out for requesting a particular service, such as a mortgage lender application; the vendor compares the consumer information with pre-set lending qualifications and responds based on whether the consumer information meets the pre-set lending qualifications.
However, among the current e-commerce systems available, the vendor specified products being offered are already manufactured and the services are already specified. For example, the products placed up for bid in an on-line auction are already manufactured such that once the auction period has expired, the product is shipped to the consumer placing the highest bid. In addition, when a consumer fills out a mortgage lender application, the mortgage lenders providing the lending service have pre-set qualifying requirements for each consumer. Consumers are able to bargain hunt among existing product and service offerings, however, they are limited to those products and services that vendors have already determined to provide.
Some vendors do allow consumers to specify an order, however that specification is restrained to a product already offered by that vendor. For example, a vendor may offer a “customizable calendar” of a particular size and shape, where the consumer can select the text style of the calendar. However, allowing a consumer a couple of choices for a calendar specified by that vendor is no different than a vendor offering a couple of different color or size choices for a sweater. In both cases, the consumer is still limited to the product or service offered by the vendor.
In addition, another e-commerce model is a reverse bidding scheme where products that are already manufactured are placed up for order with the function that as the number of orders increases, the price decreases. However, reverse bidding also restrains the consumer in that consumers are ordering products that are completely specified by the vendor. The consumer only drives the price of the product, not the product itself.
Therefore, in view of the aforementioned, it would be advantageous to provide an e-commerce method, system and program that allows consumers to place orders for products and services where the consumer is enabled to specialize the product or service prior to manufacture. In particular, it would be advantageous to provide an e-commerce method, system and program for adjusting the manufacturing of a product or service according to consumer interest prior to the manufacture of the product or service.